Arne Slot looks to have rattled Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal players in the PL title race already - opinion
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Arsenal moved four points ahead of Liverpool in the Premier League table with a win over Fulham on Saturday.Despite beating the Gunners already this season, the Reds have slipped back to third place after two straight Premier League defeats.It was not a pretty win for Arsenal, who were once again reliant on a scrappy set-piece goal to get the better of Fulham.Join our newsletter for news & smart analysis. Mikel Arteta‘s team have become well-known for their prowess from dead balls, with Arne Slot even making a point of it in the build-up to Liverpool‘s clash with Manchester United on Sunday.“If you’d tell me that we’ve conceded 40% of our goals from set pieces and the number one in the league has scored 60% of their goals from set pieces and we’re still one point behind that team, I would probably think, ‘it’s not even that bad!” Slot said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.After scoring from a corner to beat Fulham only one day later, Arsenal goal-scorer Leandro Trossard hinted that he and his teammates are letting the Liverpool boss get into their heads.Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesThere should not have been a particular way in which Slot’s comments could have been taken as any kind of dig at Arsenal.The Liverpool head coach was simply talking factually, as well as pointing out that things aren’t all bad at Anfield right now.
After scoring against Fulham, the Belgian took to social media to declare “Everyone loves a good set-piece right?” The addition of a winking emoji suggested the post may well have been a rebuttal towards Slot.Given Arsenal won the game, you can say, fair enough. Arsenal rather squeaked through against Fulham and all Arteta and his team did was prove Slot right.
As they have shown in previous seasons, this kind of strategy is simply not sustainable.Arsenal must find another way to winIn the short-term, Arsenal have certainly come out on top here and they may feel that they have ramped the pressure up on Slot as a result.But that would be to ignore that the Dutchman has clearly struck a nerve within the Arsenal camp. That is exactly what happened at Anfield in August, when the Reds eased to a win despite not being anything like at their best themselves.Arsenal may have won the battle on Saturday – and Liverpool must now respond with a win of their own – but in terms of the war, Slot rattling a few cages at the Emirates may turn out to be no bad thing.